Integral carton for protection of



June 23, 1953- v J. F. CURRIVAN Re. 23,670 INTEGRAL CARTON FORPROTECTION OF FRAGILE mzcms Original Filed Oct. 27, 1948 3 Sheets-Shae;1

3 Shaots-Shafi 2 J. F. CURRIVAN INTEGRAL CAR'I ON FOR PROTECTION OFFRAGILE ARTICLES Frazer-7,

June 23, 1953 Original Filed Oct. 2?, 194a F'iiza x.

June 1953 J. F.'CURRIVAN Re- 23,670

INTEGRAL cm'ron FOR moms-non 0F mam: mrxcuss Original Filed Oct. 2?,1948 5 sheets-sheet s INVbNIOR A BY M %Q QWI A'ITORN E15 Reissued June23, 1953 Re. 2am

INTEGRAL CARTON FOR PROTECTION OF FRAGILE ARTICLES John F. Currivan, NewYork, N. Y;

Original No. 2,611,529, dated September 23, 1952,

Serial No. 56,736, October 27, 1948.

Application for reissue March 30, 1953, Serial No.

9 Claims.

The object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensiveintegral carton construction, affording protection for fragile articles,as, for example, radio tubes, such protection heretoiore having requiredtubes of corrugated board to encircle such fragile articles in cartons.

A further object is to enable'the packing of tubes of various diametersin one size cartons.

A further object of the invention is to provide such an integral cartonconstruction, adequately protecting the fragile articles andyet of suchform that the carton can be successfully erected. loaded and both endsclosed by conventional automatic cartoning machines.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a closed carton embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the structure of Fig. 1 on theline 2-2.

Fig. 3 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 2, showing the Matter enclosed in heavybrackets I: appears in the original patent but forms no part of thisreissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additionsmade by reissue.

use of a modified form of carton blank, which is shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the use of the carton blankillustrated in Fig. 8.

Fig. 5 illustrates a carton blank as erected in Fig. 2. 1

Fig. 6 is a vertical section on the line 6-B, Fig. 2. v

Fig. 7 shows the carton blank used in the structure of Fig. 10.

Fig. 8 shows the carton blank illustrated in Fig. 4.

Fig. 9 shows the carton blank shown erected in Figure 3.

Figure 10 is a transverse sectional view of a carton erected from theblank of Figure 7.

Referring to the drawings and to the carton blank of Fig. 5, it willbeseen by reference to Fig. 2 that when the blank is erected, it willprovide an inner partition I adapted to separate two fragile artioles'las shown in Fig. 2, or to receive single fragile articles, such as radiotubes, of various diameters, because of the flexibility of the innerflap partition I. The blank shown in Fig. 5 is' formed with the usualside wall areas and at each end is provided with short closure flaps 4which will. underlie, as customary, outer and final closure flaps 5 forthe top and-bottom of the carton.

At one side of the blank there is provided the usual side wall lateralextension 6 which will normally'underlie and be glued to the oppositeoutermost side wall section. Integral with such side wall gluing section6 is the flexible and 2 Y projected flap-partition I, the latter usuallybeing of such width that when the blank is erected into carton form, asshown in Fig. 2, the said flexible flap partition will, at its freeedge, abut one of the side walls and will extend in a straight line. Itwill be understood, however, that the flap may be wider so that in itserected position, the partition flap will be put under compression andforced to assume a curved formation within the carton.

When a radio tube or other appropriate fragile article is inserted intothe carton, the side wall area thereof will engage and deflect the flappartition I to an extent controlled by the diam-' eter of such fragilearticle and a tight articleenclosing carton will be provided, the latterpre venting such movement of the enclosed article, as. to contribute, insuch respect, to breakage- Also in multiple shipping of thecartons,"theymay be so arranged in the container that the flappartitions will hold the fragile articles so spaced from each other thatbreakage is avoided. Thus the large cartons holding a dozen or more ofthe individual cartons may be of light construction and of much lowercost than. those heretofore employed. p

In the structure of Fig. 9, shown erected in Fig.3, the flap partitionhas been divided by a diagonal cut so that the flap partition has amajor section la. and an underlying minor section 1, which is notseparated from the section 5 in a score line, and thus forms acontinuation of the section 6 lying flat against the side wall 3'. Thecarton, in other substantial respects, is the same as that of Fig. 5,although the end closure flaps are shown notched at 5x. Such a cartonmay be used in two ways. Thus when the base of a radio tube, or otherfragile article, is of greater diameter than the upper structure of thetube, the score line 8 bounding the outer glue area for connection atthe side walls in the erected carton, may extend, as shown in Fig. 7,across both of the flap areas 1a and 1, and when the carton is erected,the flaps will lie at different angles in the carton, as shown in Fig.10. In Figures 3 and 10, the upper portion of a'radio tube is indicatedby the dotted line 9 as abutting flap section 1a. whereas the base areaH] of greater diameter may be unsupported as shown in Figure 3, or mayabut the flap section 7, as

shown in Figure 10. It will be apparent that a smaller article 2* may besupported in the carton of Figure 10 in a manner similar to that shownin Figure 2. However, when the article to be inserted in the carton isof such form as not-to require the divisional efiect of flap I, thelatter will not be scored on the line 8 beyond cross flap Ia, so thatflap I will remain in full surface contact with the inner wall of thecarton. The flap, thus maintains an even thickness from endlito end ofthe body of the carton, when in its fiat folded state, which isimportant in proper feeding from a stack ofthe cartons from the feedmagazine of a cartoning machine.

In the structure of Figs. 4 and 8, the flap partition is inwardlybounded by the score line 8x and is provided with a second intermediatescore line H to provide two contiguous partition fiap sections l2 andHi. When the carton is erected, the carton folds back on itself at thescore line H like a tent, which arrangement centers the tube in thecarton, keeping it from contact with all of the side walls with theexception of one. The blank in Fig. 8 as to the top and bottom closureflaps may be substantially similar to the construction shown in Fig. 7and hence the same reference numerals have been used for such parts.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made in the formand arrangement of the elements constituting the embodiments of theinvention illustrated in the drawings, Without departing from the spiritof the invention. In some cases the areas left vacant by the action ofthe flap partition may be utilized for the reception of small units, asindicated at 2* in Figs. 2-4 inclusive but ordinarily such spaces willnot be utilized.

As a further modification, and referring to the blank of Fig. 8, the'fiap partition sections [2 and I3 may be increased to four so that adiamond shape protecting fiap partition formation will be providedwithin the carton. when the latter is erected, the two additional flapsections being indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4 at M and I5.

I claim:

l. A carton comprising side Walls, end walls, a plurality of partitionsof dill'erent lengths attached to one of said side walls at a commonhinge line, said partitions being bent to extend inwardly of the cartonand angularly of said side Walls and of each other, the free ends ofsaid partitions freely and slidably abutting one of said side walls.

2. A carton comprising integrally connected side walls, one of saidwalls having an extension underlying a portion of anadjacent second sidewall and secured thereto, said extension terminating at-a hinge line, afirst partition attached to said extension at said hinge line andextending angularly inwardly of said carton into free contact with theinternal surface of said carton, and a second partition attached to saidextension at said hinge line, said second partition being of differentlength than said first partition and extending along said second wall infull surface contact therewith.

3. A carton comprising integrally connected sidewalls, one of said wallshaving an extension underlying a portion of an adjacent second side walland secured thereto, said extension terminating at a hinge line, a firstpartition attached to said extension at said hinge line and extendingangularly inwardly of said carton into free contact with the internalsurface of said carton, a second partition attached to said extension atsaid hinge line, said second partition being of dif ferent length thansaid first partition and so as to be disposed insaid carton angularly ofsaid first partition and extend inwardly of said second '4 wall across acorner of said carton into slidable abutment with a third wall.

4. A collapsible carton of substantially rectangular cross-sectionfabricated from a single blank having first, second, third, and fourthside wall sections which are separated by fold lines and are angularlyrelated in the erected carton, and end closure flaps; the first andfourth side wall sections being partially overlapped and rigidly securedtogether; an internal fiap section extending integrally from the innerside wall section at said overlap, said flap section extending in asingle plane in angular relation to the first side wall section, andhaving its free edge in sliding contact with the inner surface of thesecond side wall section and efiectively providing a flexible inner wallsection in the erected carton to yieldingly support an article therein,and a second .internal flap section extending integrally from said innerside wall section at said overlap, said second flap section beingshorter than the first flap section and likewise having its free edge insliding contact with the inner surface of the said second side wall.

5. An integral carton of substantially rectangular cross-section for theprotection of fragile articles consisting of a single blank havingfirst, second, third, and fourth side wall panels which are separated byfold lines and are angularly related in the erected carton, at least twoend closure flaps having foldable extensions, said end closure flapsintegrally extending from the ends of certain of said first, second, andfourth side wall panels only, additional [and] end closure flapsextending integrally from the opposite ends of two of the side wallpanels which are opposed v in the erected carton and, in theerectedcarton,

are immediately adjacent the panels to which said first mentioned endclosure flaps are attached, said end closure flaps being adapted toprovide end walls 01' the erected closed carton, a glue lap extendingfrom said fourth side wall panel and adapted to be overlapped by saidfirst side wall panel and be rigidly secured thereto, and an internalfiap panel extending integrally from said glue lap in angular relationto said first side wall panel-in the erected carton and terminating in afree end in sliding contact with the inner surface of [said second] oneof said, side wall [panel] panels to provide a flexible inner wall panelin the erected carton to yieldingly support an article therein, saidinner flap panel having at least one lateral edge portion inclined withrespect to the,

fold lines whereby an article being inserted into the carton exerts a[the] camming action against said edge portion to facilitate the loadingof said carton.

' 6. The carton according to claim 5 together with an additionalinternal flap panel extending integrally from said glue lap in angularrelation with the first-mentioned flap panel.

7. The carton of claim 6 wherein the combined width of said glue lap andthe said additional internal flap panel is less than the width of saidfirst side wall panel whereby said additional flap panel is adapted tolie in full surface contact with said first side wall panel.

5 fragile articles fabricated from a single blank having first, second,third andi'ourth side wall sections which are separated by told linesand are angularly related in the erected carton, and end closure flaps;the first and fourth side wall sections being partially overlapped andrigidly secured together; a first internal flap section extendingintegrally from the inner side wall section at said overlap, said firstflap section extending in a single plane in angular relation to saidfirst side wall section and having its free edge in sliding contact withthe inner surface of the second side wall section and eflectivelyproviding a flexible inner wall section in the erected carton toyieldingly support an article therein, and a second flap sectionextending integrally from said inner side wall section at said overlap,said second flap section being shorter than said first flap section andadapted to lie in full surface contact with said first side wall sectionin the erected carton.

JOHN F. CURRIVAN.

References Cited in the file or this patent or the original patentUNITED s'm'ms PATENTS Great Britain Feb. as. 1926 v}

